Chapter 01: Chapter 1 Knife between fingers game

Chapter 1 Knife between fingers game

1881, Rock Springs, Wyoming

The town is not big. It was a small carriage station more than ten years ago. However, since the coal mine was discovered, more and more people have settled here. Most of them are miners, as well as merchants who provide them with food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Here you can find anything from a small town in the American West at the end of the 19th century, including a grocery store, a police station, a tavern, and even the girls who provided "special services" to the miners.

At this time, darkness has enveloped the town, but the tavern in the center of the town is brightly lit.

"Who's next?"

The stubble-faced man pulled out the sharp dagger stuck upside down on the table with one hand, and took all the money on the table to himself with the other hand.

The dagger was dripping with blood, and the owner of the blood was covering his finger and walked out of the hotel angrily. He had to quickly go to the grocery store in the town to try his luck, otherwise, losing a few dollars would be a trivial matter, tetanus and wounds The infection would soon kill him.

What they just played was a game called "Knife Between Fingers".

"Johnny, your drink." The tavern owner walked around the bar and handed a glass of whiskey to the big man's hand. "It's enough to make extra money. No one here is your opponent."

The white miners who were watching stared with big eyes. No one had any intention of getting involved, but a few were whistling and making noises.

Johnny took another sip, and his eyes began to scan the tavern unscrupulously, finally stopping on a few Chinese miners in the corner.

There were even more Chinese in the town than whites, but they worked in the mines longer. Moreover, during the short rest period, they preferred to stay in their own residential areas with their compatriots. Even if they occasionally come to the tavern, the Chinese miners are not willing to speak too loudly. They often just sit silently in the corner and chat about their own topics.

At this time, the current performance of these Chinese miners is obviously in line with Johnny's consistent understanding.

They looked numbly in Johnny's direction, their eyes empty.

"Johnny, you don't even want the money from these 'yellow-skinned mules,' do you?" A white miner behind Johnny spoke in dialect and laughed wildly.

Johnny snorted contemptuously.

The Chinese miners lowered their heads. Except for one person.

A young miner stood up. His upper body was almost naked, only wearing a half-black linen vest dyed by coal. His figure was well-proportioned and strong, glowing with a bronze luster under the light of the tavern.

He picked up a cloth bag and turned towards the door.

The laughter from everyone behind Johnny became even more unbridled.

"Hey! Hey! That!" Johnny was somewhat dissatisfied and shouted at the young miner.

The young man ignored it and continued walking towards the door. A white miner rushed up and tried to grab the young man.

But the young man suddenly stood still and turned slightly. The miner suddenly jumped into the air and hit his head on the doorpost.

"Sir, I have to go back to bake pancakes. I don't have time to play with you." A standard English sentence came, gentle and polite, and it didn't even match his image.

Johnny was stunned for a moment, but soon returned to his original expression: "Boy, come and have fun, it's quick. If you don't have money, you can get it on credit. After all, you are used to it, hahahaha!"

The cloth bag was placed on the table, and the young man had turned around at this time. His facial features were sharp and angular, his eyebrows were as sharp as a sword, there was a torch in his heart, and there was light in his eyes.

"Uncle, take care of my wheat flour for me." The young man said softly.

"Jianqiu, don't go!" The old man with a white beard at the table held a cigarette pipe in his hand. He shook his head at the young man and said in Chinese, "This man comes from the south. It is said that he was a famous cowboy in the past. Now he is here." Sheriff Morris has one of his gunslingers, and no one for hundreds of miles can handle him with a knife.”

Chen Jianqiu didn't seem to hear the old man's instructions. He walked directly to the opposite side of Johnny's table and sat down.

Johnny took out 10 dollars from his pocket and slapped it on the table.

"Boy, if you beat me, these 10 dollars are yours."

Everyone behind him stared straight-eyed, and some couldn't help but swallowed their saliva. The miners' monthly salary was only 40 US dollars.

One of Johnny's hands was spread out on the table, and the other hand was holding a dagger and stabbing it towards the table. The tip of the dagger danced back and forth lightly between the fingers, like a butterfly piercing a flower, which was dizzying.

There was a pocket watch on the table, and the second hand was ticking.

The dagger stopped and struck the table hard.

"20 seconds!" a group of white miners behind the table exclaimed.

Chen Jianqiu's expression did not change much.

He groped in his arms for a while, then slowly took out a quarter and placed it on the table. The other hand pulled out the dagger, and the tip of the dagger hesitated between the fingers, as if he was not sure where to start.

The crowd around the table burst into laughter and crude language.

"Chicken boy, have you ever held a knife?"

"'Skinny pig', you'd better go home and play with your ****, hahahahaha!"

"I'm going to increase the amount too, hahaha"

The dagger fell, stabbed between the thumb and index finger, then slowly lifted up and moved behind the thumb. The laughter became more wild and piercing. The Chinese miners sitting in the corner lowered their heads even more. They had become accustomed to all kinds of insults after coming to the United States, and they chose to continue to endure.

Johnny narrowed his eyes. He first glanced at the pocket watch on the table. Ten seconds had passed. He was thinking that it would be more interesting to humiliate the young man in front of him later.

Chen Jianqiu's neck moved and he relaxed his shoulders.

Suddenly, the muscles in the arm holding the dagger began to beat, and the dagger moved suddenly. Everyone didn't even see his movements clearly, they could only hear the sound of the tip of the knife being nailed to the wooden table.

By the time everyone came to their senses, the dagger had been inserted upside down in the center of the table.

There was silence in the tavern for a moment, until someone staring at the pocket watch on the table reported the time of the operation just now.

"Fifteen seconds!"

Everyone was dumbfounded.

"Impossible, this kid cheated!" A white miner came forward, leaned on the table and began to observe, but the little knife marks on the table proved that Chen Jianqiu's attack was not only fast, but also accurate.

There seemed to be no expression on Chen Jianqiu's face. He stood up, picked up his coin on the table, took the ten-dollar bill from Johnny, shook it towards Johnny, and put it in together. He said in his coat: "Thank you, brother."

Johnny's face was swollen red, whether because of the surge of alcohol or anger, and he grabbed Chen Jianqiu's wrist.

"Dude, do you want to play another game?"

Chen Jianqiu was stunned for a moment. He glanced at Johnny and the unconvinced white miners behind him, and then at the pocket watch on the table.

Suddenly laughed.

"Okay, sir, but I can't delay too long. I have to go back at 9 o'clock to prepare breakfast for tomorrow."

Johnny reached out to pick up the dagger on the table, but suddenly felt a tightening on his wrist. It turned out that his hand was firmly held by the young man in front of him, unable to move at all.

The smile on Chen Jianqiu's face became more obvious: "How about we bet on something more exciting."

"Let's bet one hand."

Johnny felt the figure in front of him flicker, and another dagger was inserted on the table. He subconsciously glanced at his waist, where there was only an empty dagger sheath.

Chen Jianqiu pulled out the dagger and swung it, and a piece of cloth appeared in his hand like magic. The original owner of the cloth was the white miner who came up just now. At this time, he looked at his empty cuffs and dared not say anything.

The young man covered his eyes with a piece of cloth, put his left hand on the table, picked up the dagger with his right hand, and inserted it between his fingers, holding it quickly and accurately.

After two knives were passed, Chen Jianqiu performed a trick, threw the dagger high, pulled out another dagger on the table with his right hand, and continued his performance.

The daggers were inserted faster and faster, and everyone felt that only the afterimages of the two daggers on the table were left, flying up and down, which was really beautiful.

Everyone was stunned until two daggers were inserted in front of Johnny with two "dong dong" sounds.

No one paid attention to the time on the pocket watch, but Chen Jianqiu took off the cloth from his eyes and made a "please" gesture to Johnny.

At this time, Johnny's face had turned the color of pig liver. He tremblingly pulled out the dagger in front of him, picked up the cloth and covered his eyes.

A few seconds later, a muffled grunt was heard, and sure enough, the dagger was inserted into Johnny's hand, with blood leaking from the wound.

The young man stood up, grabbed another dagger on the table, walked up to the white miner who was shouting just now, and stared at him: "Just now, you said you wanted to increase the stakes, right? Or did you call me a 'yellow-skinned mule'? Coming?"

The white miner shook his head like a rattle, but suddenly he felt his eyes blurred, and there was a big gash on the back of his hand.

The miners covered their hands and began to cry.

Chen Jianqiu didn't look at them anymore. He picked up his bag of wheat flour, whistled amidst the shock of the group, and walked out of the tavern door. No one stopped him.

A hazy mist filled the streets of Shiquan Town, and the air was filled with the smell of dust.

Chen Jianqiu, who was carrying a cloth bag, was standing at the door of the tavern, thinking about how to spend the 10 dollars he earned, when he was suddenly bumped into behind him.

He turned around suddenly and saw a black man in miner's clothes shaking his head drunkenly. When the black man saw Chen Jianqiu turning his head, he straightened up in embarrassment, straightened his vest that was a little crooked due to the impact, and then patted him on the shoulder.

"Sorry, brother, I drank too much and didn't see you clearly in front of me."

Chen Jianqiu smiled and indicated that he didn't mind, and the black man continued to stagger out.

But within a few seconds, Chen Jianqiu suddenly felt something was wrong, and he put his hand into his arms.

really! The $10 disappeared.

"Fuck, don't run!"

Dear readers, please keep reading. Keep reading is the lifeline of a new book. Please, please.

(End of this chapter)